reCraft and Relic

I did the reCraft and Relic show last month and it was a blast. Saturday was so crazy busy we couldn’t even think. Sunday was sloooooow. Ah, but there was lessons to be learned in that, too.

First… Saturday was a huge day. Set up. Get ready. Doors open. Madness… haha… the good kind. Lots of people and lots of creative vibes flowing everywhere. My in-laws stopped in. Friends popped in to say hello. I met Facebook artist friends in person for the first time. I talked with lots of people.

Sunday’s vibe was different. You know, I pray before every event like this that my art reaches the people it is meant to. And truly, that is what I want most.

But then the event happens and sometimes things get slow. Especially on a Sunday. Sundays are very often like that with craft fairs. So when the traffic is slow, I get antsy. I get nervous. I start thinking, why are we even doing this show when there is no traffic!

But, there’s always a lesson there. On Sunday, toward the end of the day, we had one guy who thoughtfully looked through every print. Asked questions. His voice and demeanor was on the quiet side. He’d ask a question and I would answer and then go back to being silently crabby about how slow the day was. And then, he bought a couple prints, and as he was checking out, he asked us to pray for his wife, who is battling cancer.

Of course. We agreed. And we have prayed for her ever since.

We cleaned up. Went home. And then came recovering from the weekend. Laundry. Clean up. Business admin junk. Gen is happy about all that. She does her best work when I need some love and snuggle time. ❤

And I thought again of the man who visited our booth on Sunday. Would he have asked us for the prayer request if it was crazy busy? Would he have shopped so quietly and thoughtfully if the booth was jam packed with people chit chatting away?

Probably not. God knows what he’s doing. He answered my prayer and I didn’t realize it until that man made his prayer request. I forgot for a moment that I believe in the power of art and more than that, I believe in God’s power to connect people and help us all support each other, in whatever way we can. I may not know this person but I can pray for them and sincerely want them to find heath and healing and peace.

I really kind of lost it after that. Cried for this person who is struggling. Cried for her lovely husband who just wants some peace and healing for her. Cried because in my own selfishness in wanting a crowd of people to buy things I forgot that God cares about people and how we can help and love each other. I was tired at that hour on Sunday. Two days of working that show, and perhaps that is why my tears came more easily, and perhaps that is what God wanted me to feel. That after all the hoopla of doing a show like this, that I could stop and again remember how fragile and connected our world is.